Ch.17

When the gang finally landed they were exhausted, to say the least. It was a 12-hour plane ride but a 6-hour time difference, which put them on the ground right around 8:00pm. The kids were all cranky, not having eaten. They all agreed that dinner would be the first thing they did once they got settled into the hotel. First they just needed to get their bags and then find a shuttle to take them to the hotel. Once that was done they all got their room keys and went off to their rooms to drop their bags off.

"Okay, room 205 for the Mosbys, 206 for the Eriksons and 207 for the Stinsons. Room 206 has one king bed and one queen been and room 205 and 207 have two queen beds. You guys are all set. Enjoy your stay." The receptionist handed the keys out and everyone went to go find their rooms.

"So how about we just drop our bags inside, freshen up and meet in the hotel lobby in about 15 minutes. Is that good with everybody?" Tracey was trying to get a plan going so everyone was on the same page. Everybody in the group nodded their heads in agreement and ducked into their respective rooms. As soon as Barney and Robin entered the room they explored to see what it had to offer. There was one bathroom, with a Jacuzzi tub along with all the other bathroom essentials, a small kitchen area and a couple of closets so they could hang their clothes. There was also sliding doors to separate the beds, which made this more like a suite than a room. They had to admit, this was a pretty nice hotel.

"Ellie, do you want to change into shorts so you're not hot?" Barney asked his fidgety four year old. He could see that she was agitated, probably from lack of sleep and hunger. She just nodded her head and rubbed her eyes as she walked over to Barney. He put her suitcase down on one of the beds and dug through it for a pair of her shorts. He quickly changed her clothes before he picked something for himself to change into. He had decided to travel in a suit, of course, but the sticky Hawaii air immediately forced him to change. He picked a pair of tan cargo shorts and a polo shirt. Robin changed also into a pair of shorts before they left to go meet the rest of the gang in the lobby.

"So what do you say? We tell them tonight at dinner?" Robin was kind of eager to tell the gang now that they were actually in Hawaii.

"Yeah, lets do it!" Barney reached down and grabbed Robin's hand as he closed the door behind him. He realized quickly that Ellie was begrudgingly dragging her feet next to him, almost to tired to walk herself. Barney let go of Robin's hand to pick up Ellie, but once he had her situated he grabbed her hand once more.

"Lets take bets on who notices we are holding hands first. I bet its Tracey. She's got an eye for this stuff." Barney said with a smirk.

"No way, it's definitely going to be Marshall. He's going to see us together and get so excited that he will put all those little tweens obsessed with Beiber to shame."

"You're on Scherbatsky. And ready for the best part? Remember those braids you got back in 2006 when you came back from Argentina with Gael…." Barney shuddered when he said Gael's name,"… and the braids I got on our honeymoon in Belize?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Whoever loses has to get those again. And although we may have rocked them back in the day, I guarantee they won't look nearly as good on 49 year old me and 45 year old you."

"Speak for yourself Barney, I could still pull that off. But it won't matter because you will be the one wearing them again. You're on." Barney and Robin continued to make their journey to the lobby, Barney with Ellie in hand, and realized as they approached that they were the last ones there. As they got closer Barney's grip on Robin's hand got tighter, she suspected because he was excited to see who would win the bet. Once they were in visual distance of the rest of the gang, they noticed the shocked expressions on their faces, especially Ted. He made the most confused face and just pointed at their conjoined hands, rendered speechless. It wasn't until Marshall spoke up, like Robin had expected, that the silence was broken.

"You guys are holding hands? Why are you holding hands, Barney why are you holding her hand? Does this mean what I think it means?" Marshall was getting hyper with curiosity.

"Well what do you think it means?" Barney asked, playing dumb.

"THEY'RE BACK TOGETHER PEEPS! WOOO!" Lily shouted with excitement.

"Really Lily, you couldn't even let us say it?" Robin said, giving Lily a dirty, but harmless look.

"Wait, are you guys really back together? And did you tell Lily and not tell the rest of us?" Ted asked, seeming somewhat offended that he wasn't told.

"Let me just start off first by saying, I TOLD YOU SO! You need to get your hair braided and it will be at the earliest possible convenience!" Robin said as she turned to Barney, laughing in his face. "Second, Barney and I did decide to give this another shot. And we didn't tell you guys because we wanted to see where it was going first. Also, we didn't tell Lily she found out for herself. She was always good at that."

"You're damn right." Lily said as she high fived Robin.

"I knew you too were acting to casual about being around each other. Usually with you two we can see the claws come out." Ted said, finally understanding the comfort he seldom saw with Robin and Barney anymore.

"Well I'm happy for you guys. I always liked you two together, even though the only versions of you that I ever knew was when you were together and happy with each or divorced and awkward with each other." Tracey said with a smile.

"We appreciate you guys supporting us. We know how opinionated you all can be so thanks for understanding this." Barney said to his best friends.

"Well let's not stand around here anymore, it is 9:00pm and I am starving!" Robin said as she felt her stomach rumble. The gang all agreed and found a nice restaurant to eat at. By the time they got there Ellie had fallen asleep in Barney's arms. He wanted her to eat but figured it be better to just let her sleep. He put her in a high chair and she fell back asleep almost immediately. Once they all had their food ordered conversation began to flow just like old times.

"Oh god, remember your tramp stamp Ted. The little butterfly on your back. Classic." Barney had made the decision that he was going to try and embarrass Ted as much as possible on this trip. It had been awhile since they ripped on Ted so he figured, why not.

"Yes Barney I remember. Not one of the smartest things I have done."

"No definitely not. But you've done worse. Remember when you told Robin you loved her after only a couple hours into the date. That's priceless. You just, you can't make this stuff up."

"God Barney, what is this pick on Ted day. All that stuff adds to his charm." Marshall decided to defend Ted, in what was clearly being done on purpose.

"Yes Marshall, as a matter of fact it is. Thanks for noticing."

"Barney, I am not embarrassed of saying I love you to Robin on the first date. Me doing that led to us dating, us breaking up, me getting that tramp stamp, me meeting Stella, proposing to Stella and getting left at the alter by Stella, Tony feeling bad that he took Stella from me so he gave me a job teaching, me dating Cindy, me breaking up with Cindy, you falling in love with Robin, Robin falling in love with you, you proposing to Robin, me booking a wedding band, that wedding band cancelling, Cindy helping me get Tracey's band for the wedding and then me meeting Tracey. And now I am happier than I have ever been. And, I hope you heard all that kids because that's how I met your mother, and that's just the short version. If you didn't that's okay, I'll tell you the whole thing one day."

"Oh god that was just the short version. My ears are bleeding." Barney said with mock boredom. "Ted, Ted right here." Barney was pointing back and forth between his eyes and Ted's. "Ted, this week I am going to teach you how to re-live."

"Re-live?" Ted asked curiously.

"Yes, re-live. All of the stuff we did in the past, it was great! Since then you have gotten old and boring. I am going to make sure that this week you get in touch with your inner love-crazed, spontaneous, destiny believing, if slightly badly dressed, younger self."

"Barney, I don't need to get in touch with my inner younger self. I'm happy right where I am."

"But Ted, just, okay? This week we are going to live like we are 30 again! The sky is the limit my friend!"

"Barney, when you were 30 you hit on a 15 different girls every night and slept with these girls 83% of the time. Since you have a girlfriend and she's sitting right next to you, I think its pretty fair to say that we will not be living how we did when we were in our 30's."

"You are no fun Ted. I guess I'll just have to replace you. Hey Marshall…"

"No." Marshall said before Barney even finished his sentence.

"Hey Robin, want to live like we are 30 again?"

"As great as that sounds, and believe me it does, I have to agree with Ted and Marshall on this one. If we even try to do half the things we did when we were 30 we would probably get ourselves killed. You all have kids now, think about that before you do something stupid."

"I guess you're right." Barney looked over at Ellie and smiled as he said this, knowing that he had to put Ellie before anything else.

"Well if I count as anything, and I really hope I do, then I'll be 30 again with you Barney. I didn't know you back then and I'd like to see what I missed." Tracey said, mainly just to make Barney happy but also because she was curious about what kind of things he would do to feel 30 again.

"Awesome! We start tomorrow, with a braiding session I believe." Barney turned to Robin and winked. The rest of the night went by pretty quick, because of how late it was. Ellie woke up for a little during dinner, only to eat some of Barney's fruit before falling back asleep. It was around 11:30 when everyone made it back to their hotel rooms. Ellie was asleep in Barney's arms. He tried to change her into pajamas without waking her, he was semi successful. By the time Barney got Ellie changed, Robin had slipped into her pajamas. Barney put Ellie in one of the two beds before he stripped down to his underwear and climbed into the opposite bed.

"Wait, I thought you were going to share a bed with Ellie." Robin said as she noticed both beds being occupied.

"You didn't think I was serious when I told the gang that did you?"

"Well kind of yeah, not only for the gang to hear but also for Ellie's sake."

"She doesn't know the difference if you sleep in my bed or not." Barney pulled the covers down and patted the bed next to him. Robin smiled and climbed in, leaning into Barney as he pulled the covers over them. Lying next to Barney like this brought back the feeling of safety that had left her when Barney did. Robin had missed this. Just when Robin was starting to doze off, she felt Barney place a kiss on the top of her head and whisper 'I love you Robin'. Robin turned to face him but when she did he was already asleep. She studied his face as he drifted away into a dreamland. She couldn't believe she had ever given him up.

"I love you too." She whispered before gently falling asleep.